Children now playing 'huge role' in spread of COVID-19 variant, expert says

[pstokely]

Source: ABC 7

New developments in the COVID-19 pandemic has one leading epidemiologist re-evaluating his own advice.

Dr. Michael Osterholm is the Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. He was also a member of Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board during the time between Biden being elected president and inaugurated.

Osterholm previously supported sending children back to school. He said the virus was not a major threat to children. Now, the situation has changed.

"Please understand, this B.1.1.7 variant is a brand new ball game," Osterholm said on NBC's Meet the Press. "It infects kids very readily. Unlike previous strains of the virus, we didn't see children under 8th grade get infected often or they were not frequently very ill, they didn't transmit to the rest of the community."

Read more: https://abc7chicago.com/covid-chidlren-variant-coroanvirus-coronavirus-vaccine/10486843/

[efhmc]

1. Well that is scary.

[wnylib]

3. Even scarier, regarding variants, is a news report

on NPR early this morning that said that around 50 cases of the Brazilian variant have been identified in Massachusetts. The B117 variant in the OP is the UK one, which the vaccines are effective against. The Brazilian variant, not so much.

The news report also said that cases of the Brazilian version might not be getting identified very well in the US because many communities do not have the ability to identify the variants.

I get my second Moderna on Friday. But I will continue wearing a mask and keeping distance because of the variants.

[Big Blue Marble]

8. Pfizer vaccine has been shown to be effective against the Brazilian variant

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-brazil-variant-pfizer-vaccine-b1814332.html

Still take precautions, but most likely Moderna is too.

[bamagal62]

9. I wonder how effective the J&J is against the variants?

[Big Blue Marble]

10. Yes, we need this info soon.

Plus how effective is J&J in prevention of transmission of the virus.

[bamagal62]

11. I just found this article. Lots of great info.

I think it's effective for the variants and is also effective for prevention of transmission.


https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2021/03/420071/how-effective-johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine-heres-what-you-should-know

[Big Blue Marble]

15. Thanks for the link.

That is great news!

[orleans]

17. thank you. i'm getting j&j wednesday. n/t

[SheltieLover]

14. Ty!

I'm just over 2 weeks post-2nd Pfizer, with no plan to abandon mask, social distancing, etc., but glad go know!

[dem4decades]

2. Shit, now we're safe and our grandkids aren't.

[stopdiggin]

4. think the idea that children were not sources of transmission

was always a misreading. We need to vaccinate as many human bodies as possible -- as quickly as possible. That includes kids.

[pstokely]

5. have they ever said kids can't be sources of transmission?

We know that kids aren't as likely to have complications

[stopdiggin]

7. it's in your post. as a quote.

but as I said -- I think that was a misreading of the facts.

[greenjar_01]

13. Agree...I think children were one of the big vectors in early days - February-March 2020

They got sick, but not that sick, but it was rampant in schools and a lot of them brought it home.

[IronLionZion]

6. That looks to be the problem in Michigan and some other rural places now

where it is spreading the worst. Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, Kentucky are also seeing a lot of new cases.

Why can't people just be patient a little while longer? All the US vaccines provide some protection against this B.1.1.7 variant

[greenjar_01]

12. Gonna have to just deal with it

Nobody's doing another year of this. Get your vaccine, keep hospitalizations low, deal as best we can.

[ananda]

16. From WebMD re vaccines and variants.

Of the three "variants of concern" recognized by the World Health Organization and the CDC, studies have shown that the mRNA vaccines created by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, as well as the Novavax vaccine, remain highly effective against the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first recognized in the United Kingdom.

The mRNA vaccines are 4- to 7-fold less effective against the P.1 variant, which was first discovered in Brazil, but they still appear to be within an important "cushion of protection," particularly after two doses, and should prevent disease, according to Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.